NAFDAC deploys $2.3m GF grant to strengthen operations

Nigeria receives additional $933m for HIV, TB, malaria, others
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has implemented $2,305,695.03 Global Fund (GF)’s grant Cycle 6, to strengthen operations, including capacity building.

Also, Nigeria has received an additional $933 million grant from GF, to be spent from January 2024 to December 2026 on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Tuberculosis (TB), malaria and resilience system strengthening programmes for health for the peak period of three years.

At a briefing, yesterday, in Abuja, Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said $944,605 was spent on strengthening one of the NAFDAC ISO 17025 laboratories (CDCL Yaba) to conduct comprehensive analysis of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Tuberculosis and Malaria (ATM) and other disease programme medicines, while $36,965 was invested in building staff capacity on Pharmacovigilance (PV) strengthening and Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) monitoring.

She said: “Over the years, NAFDAC has invested in the capacity building of staff in PV. However, in ensuring sustained delivery of its mandate, the skills and competence of its staff require continuous strengthening and advancement.

“The BL33 under the RSSH 2 grant was used to support the capacity strengthening of PV officers in recent development and advances in PV and ADR reporting in Nigeria, in line with the newly revised Nigerian National Pharmacovigilance Policy and Implementation Framework 2020 document.”

Adeyeye added that the GF BL106 supported NAFDAC to acquire a mobile app for ADR reporting and monitoring PV activity for three years ending in 2023 for $8,684.21

“The implementation of a mobile app has streamlined the reporting and monitoring of ADR and improved the overall responsiveness of the healthcare system,” she stated.

According to the NAFDAC DG, to ensure that the medicinal product is the right medicine, GF BL36 supported three NAFDAC state offices with three field devices (Truscan) for rapid on-the-spot check for product quality worth $184,112.

GF Acting Executive Secretary, County Coordinator, Mechanisms, Ibrahim Tajudeen, while explaining the grant monitoring mechanism, disclosed that Nigeria as a country was privileged to also receive additional resources for successful utilisation of the previous grant cycle of 2021 to 2023.